Yoel Isaac Diaz

“Frances lit a cigarette. "Do you regret not having children?"
"Never once. Never for a day. Do you regret having one?"
Frances laughed.
"I'm being serious, " said Joan.
"Oh. Well, sometimes I do, to be honest."
"But you wouldn't change him."
"Yes, I would."
"But you wouldn't change him much."
"I'd change him quite a bit."
"But you love him."
"So much that it pains me.”
― Patrick deWitt, French Exit: a Novel

“no-one is finally dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away – until the clock he wound up winds down, until the wine she made has finished its ferment, until the crop they planted is harvested. The span of someone’s life, they say, is only the core of their actual existence.”
― Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man

“Afterward (or, The Bridge)

Because desire always exceeds
its object. Because the energy you gave me

feels big enough to birth wings. Because
I want you to push into the wetness

and I know it. Because of the salt
and the wind. Because everything

that is supposed to happen
will happen, is happening, or

has already happened. Because
ambivalence is more beautiful

than justice. Because my heart is
shooting ahead, and I have no choice

but to follow it. Because I want you
to be happy, with or without me.

Because of the birds fleeing the storm.
Because the harbor is permeable

and shining. Because it felt like
that last night of my life

but it wasn't. Because a web of cables
is there to catch me if I blow

sideways, and always will be. Because
I walked across the bridge and was free.”
― Maggie Nelson, Something Bright, Then Holes

“and I am missing you in the way
that spreads. I'm trying

to wear my freedom like
an amulet, make it something

I'll never forget.”
― Maggie Nelson, Something Bright, Then Holes